Friday, March 1, 2013

Marco, Chris, and Hillary. Oh My!

Since Dave posted that he was right about Iowa, I would like to do the same and claim some credit for warning Marco Rubio about that coveted post-SoTU spot - He sure shootin' dropped the ball in his weird lunge for the water bottle. I was going to post about it but it seemed like piling on, and so I let it pass because I am inherently kind. Besides: What more could I add to the howling choir of Stewart, Colbert, Letterman, Kimmel, Leno and SNL? Anywho, since then Sen. Rubio has been quite active in our Invisible Primary, and so we will start with him and then double back to Hillary. Away we go.

First, a tip of the hat to Rubio for Tweeting a picture of his water bottle immediately after his SoTU train-wreck. That showed self-awareness and a bit of moxie. It certainly showed that he tried to get in front of his self-made prat-fall, which is an attractive quality for someone who wants to be in the spotlight for the rest of his life. Rubio continued the self-deprecating-water-bottle humor on his trip to Israel, which seemed to be taking the joke a bit far, but whatever works. On the other hand, it feels old now so we'll turn our focus to Rubio's international trip that aimed to prove two things: One, that he should be taken seriously on significant foreign affairs issues; second, that by taking a hard pro-Israeli stand, he is waving a gigantic carrot in front of American Jews. And I think we all know that since Passover is right around the corner, Jews love nothing more than a carrot with which to make some Tzimmes. We all knew that, right? Tzimmes? OK, moving on... Marco came back from abroad and hit the ground running, going to New York to fund raise among the movers and shakers of Wall Street. Hilarity ensued when Rep. Peter King (R-NY) gave Rubio the big finger for opposing funding for Hurricane Sandy relief: “It’s bad enough that these guys voted against it, that’s inexcusable
enough. But to have the balls to come in and say, ‘We screwed you now
make us president?’” HA! But forget the balls reference for just a moment -- Rubio is working the IP system like a champ. Makes me want to hydrate.

Moving along the I-95 corridor, Gov. Chris Christie, another IP fave, has been in the news for three reasons. First, he was dinged by CPAC (and said he "Can't sweat the small stuff." You go, Chris!). Then came news that former Massachusetts Senator Scott Brown is hosting a fundraiser for the Governor's re-election campaign, joining similar efforts from Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell. Finally, the news out of New Jersey is that Christie is sooooo popular there and polling data predicts that he is going to win his re-election bid in a walk. All of this put together points to a strong Christie as he enters his gubernatorial re-election bid, setting himself up nicely for a war chest and national name recognition.

And finally, to the Democrats to the Democrat. A recent PPP poll shows that the former Secretary of State is a strong Invisible Primary candidate, at least in the state of Wisconsin. The poll, released yesterday, shows Hillary beating Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker and Rep. Paul Ryan in their home state, which is good news for her as she begins to write her memoirs. Joe Biden? Where are you? Probably off trying to fix the sequestration fiasco, which is where our attention must focus for now. But the IP continues!